Moving

If you are a follower of Eleanor then you will need to go to this blog from now on.

I will no longer be updating this site.

See you,

John-Paul

Party Two

Eleanor's friends came over for Party Number Two on Sunday. The exclusive guest list included: Alexandra, Tom, Athena, Peter, Nina, Harry, Natasha, and Kyra. Jake was unable to attend as he had a previous engagement in Christchurch.

Tom and Eleanor are arch-friends at creche; playing together until they end up wrestling each other to the ground.

Alexandra is two days younger than Eleanor. She makes rather a nice photo.

Athena selected her party dress herself.

Party One

Family came on Saturday to celebrate Eleanor's second birthday.

Eleanor had a fine old time receiving a fetching outfit and bag, a pink ukelele, Igglepiggle and a kaleidoscope.



From Mum and Dad she got a set of puzzles, a mirror with her name on it (only took Dad one year to paint and glue that present together), and some clothes.








Eleanor has reached the stage where she appreciates the present itself more than the wrapping paper, which is a pleasing stage for the people who brought her the presents.

Eleanor retains her interest in cakes.

Happy Birthday

Eleanor had a good day today. She went to creche in the morning and had a cake there with her friends. She was a bit overwhelmed and didn't sing along to Happy Birthday or blow out the candles, but it sounds like it was nice.

At home we gave her a little bit of cake. She sang Happy Birthday with us and blew out the candles. It was very sweet. I suppose that she didn't make a wish. I'll make one for her: a long and happy life with love and not too much sadness.

Is that dress getting smaller?

It is Eleanor's second birthday today. I will write about that later (her big parties are going to be on the weekend). It's difficult to notice your child is getting older. On her first birthday Eleanor debuted this pretty dress.

She was wearing it again last week.

Chinese

In order to teach Eleanor about being frustrated we took her to a Chinese restaurant ordered her some delcious food and gave her chop sticks.

After spending a few minutes chasing food around the plate Eleanor remembered she had hands.

Riversdale

We went to the beach for the weekend. Peter and Eleanor ran gamely across the hard flat sand toward the sea, and the sea ran at them. Once a wave flops over there is that surge of water that flows out swiftly across the sand. If you walk away from it when it is sucking back it is quite disorientating. Once the water had rushed up under Peter and Eleanor's feet they described a quick arc and began their rapid jolting run back towards land. Peter fell over into the soggy sand and howled, Eleanor kept her feet, stopped, and noting Peter's displeasure began to cry too. Back on dry sand they played in a hole. Peter tossing himself into it chest first, Eleanor more circumspectly flopping onto her bottom.

The place we stayed was very nice: a flash bach. There were stylish knick-knacks that had to be removed to safe heights, and a battery of remote controls that needed to be shifted to higher ground. The toilet facilities were slightly inadequate for those of us who like a bath. Eleanor was untroubled by using the wash basin, but I am not as limber as I once was and found it difficult to lever myself in and out while maintaining dignity. Eleanor didn't say anything but I could tell she wanted to laugh.

It rained on the last day so Nina read Eleanor a book. This developed into a photo shoot. Nina has mastered the art of looking at the camera AND organising her face; Eleanor is still inconsistent. Our child rearing and pruning guide says this is quite normal but if the child has not mastered this skill by the age of three along with a fierce walk for the catwalk there may be something wrong with the child and perhaps they can only be considered for the dismal occupations of architect, doctor or CEO.

Sauce is the new make up

A little rouge all over the face is the key to a healthy appearance. Also, when you're peckish later in the day you can just lick your cheeks.

18 (months)

Eleanor was 18 months old on the 20th of May. We bought a cake for her from New World. She was appreciative.

One day sugar will be illegal and this picture will be used to induce horror in the minds of expectant mothers.

I was never a fan of having children. In fact I sort of sneered at it, and used the word "breed" in a suitably disparaging tone. I was dead wrong. Eleanor is wonderful.

Completely wonderful.

Happy birthday, Eleanor.

Bubble

Jelly = bubble

When Eleanor says "bubble" she wants jelly.

It's difficult to refuse her because a baby saying "bubble" is cute.

Much cuter than a 35 year old bald guy saying "bubble".

Or "teddy".

Anyway, I wouldn't look this happy if you gave me jelly.

Imelda Marcos' Shoes

The Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila contains hundreds of pairs of shoes, many of them found in the presidential palace when Imelda and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, fled the Philippines in 1986.


"This museum is making a subject of notoriety into an object of beauty," Mrs Marcos told reporters.

"They went into my closets looking for skeletons, but thank God, all they found were shoes, beautiful shoes," a smiling Mrs Marcos said, wearing a pair of locally made silver shoes for the day.

BBC News, 16 Feb, 2001

The Joy of Easter

The Easter Bunny catches an Eleanor.

A Tribute to Ed from El

Why did you climb Everest?

Because it was there.

It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

Well. We knocked the bastard off!

Eleanor brings you a scene from Dracula

Dracula (played here by Cathy) attempts to suck the blood of the helpless female lead (Eleanor). Critics received the performance well although some questioned the set design.

Sleep

She looks cute. I think most people looking at this picture will think so. One of the things that changes as you get older is that you don't look cute when you're asleep. If this was a picture of me asleep you'd think:

• Hairy
• Drool(y)
• Why is he holding a bunny rabbit?

It's a shame you aren't allowed to take soft toys to bed when you're older.

An evening with friends

Our last night in Auckland.

A great evening with great people.

Water play

Why do people at creche* say "water play"? Don't they mean playing with water?

Woman at creche - We encourage lots of water play

Apeman - Water play?

Woman at creche - Yes. Playing with water.

Apeman - (guessing) Do you also encourage lots of

foot play?

Woman at creche - Foot play?

Apeman - (explaining helpfully) Playing with feet.**

*This photo is not at creche, it's at Anna and Owen's lovely place north of Auckland and Eleanor is playing with Ruby (and with water).

**This is an imaginary conversation. I'm too much of a wimp to actually say this kind of thing.

Apeman at play

I took Apeman to the park again and let him have a run around. He seemed to enjoy it. He'd been getting grumpy. He had to make lots of phone calls in the morning. Apeman hates the phone. When it rings he looks at it angrily and then stalks across the room and mumbles into it. Whenever I pick up the phone and say hello it just beeps. What does Apeman say to the phone?

Apeman should run around in the park more often. It really cheers him up. Mummy and I watched him bounding across the grass and frolicking in the leaves for awhile and then we called him back to the car. He came back smiling. It was much easier to put up with Apeman after that.

Eleanor shows Apeman Auckland

Apeman forgot that he was supposed to get up at dawn so I could show him the Sky Tower. Luckily I was able to grab his foot from my cot and pull on it until he woke up. It was quite dark and Apeman did a lot of banging into things in the bedroom and waving his hands and cursing then he would tell me to be quiet but I wasn't making any noise. He was probably worried about waking up Mum. This is a sensible thing to worry about.

When we finally got out of the house Apeman was pleased to find that the park was only a few minutes away. There were a lot of people in the park running around and around in circles on the fields. Apeman watched them for a long time and then scratched his bum and said something. It probably wasn't nice because he used the same voice he uses whenever John Key comes on the TV.

We looked for a long time but we couldn't find the Sky Tower.

Eleanor goes for a morning walk with Apeman

One

Apeman seems frisky as we step outside the house. Nice morning. He takes a picture of me with the hills in the background so I suppose he’s going to push me all the way to the top of the hill. He probably shouldn’t. It always puts him in a bad mood.

Two

He’s in a bad mood. You can tell. He starts to make sarcastic comments about motorists. And he's sweaty. Actually, he's more sweaty than sarcastic. He keeps stopping to take photos. I think he’s tired.

Three

We’re at the top of the hill. Nice view. Apeman is lying on the grass wheezing. I throw him my water bottle to help. It rolls into a bush. Apeman buries his head in the bushes looking for it. He reminds me of the monkeys in the zoo. The ones with the bright red bums.

Four

Apeman is feeling smug. We’re going down the other side of the hill. A tagger has written words of encouragement on a lamp post. Apeman thinks this is funny. He pauses to photograph a bench. He’s getting arty. I take off my shoes and throw them in the gutter to distract him from being arty but he doesn’t notice.

Five

Look! Apeman says and triumphantly produces the camera once again. He photographs a garage. He is trying to make a point to himself about something (God only knows what). He feels pleased with himself. He says good morning to a passer-by. Apeman never does this. He usually pretends that passers-by don’t exist. He must be feeling good. We head off again down the hill at a brisk pace.

Six

We’re at the bottom of the hill. Apeman is hunting through the pram looking for my shoes. Apeman doesn’t seem happy anymore. My shoes aren’t in the pram they’re in the gutter at the top of the hill. I wonder if Apeman knows this.

Seven

Apeman is subdued as we go back up the hill. I scream encouragingly.

Eight

We find the shoes. Apeman picks them up. I expect him to make his red face and shout, but he sort of looks at the shoes and smiles.

Nine

We’re almost home. You can tell because we’re on the street with all the taxis. The rows of taxis all have plastic photos hanging from the rear view mirrors. All of the pictures are of black men. Across the road are some big concrete buildings. Apeman grunts and shoves us on.

Ten

Apeman is pleased to be home. He tells me I must be tired. Apeman seems tired. He puts me to bed. I can hear him saying “Hello? Hello?” in the other rooms. The rooms must be pleased. Apeman is very polite.